Due to the unpredicted snowfall in large parts of Belgium, traffic is hectic on Tuesday morning. At around 08:30, roads to Brussels were particularly busy.
The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) issued a code yellow warning for slipperiness in the northern part of the country on Monday, as temperatures were set to drop to around freezing. However, throughout the night, rain turned to snow in many parts of Flanders.
"Snow and slipperiness are wreaking havoc this morning rush hour: we are seeing extra traffic jams and severely delayed traffic on many routes," the Flemish Traffic Centre reported on its social media. "A lot of skidding too! So allow plenty of time for your drive. Or even better: postpone your departure if you can."
Exceptional traffic jams
The traffic jam barometer of the Flemish Traffic Centre was already well above 300 km of traffic jams at around 07:30, which is exceptional for that time of day, VRT NWS reported. At around 08:50, the total length of traffic jams in Flanders was already 400 km.
The heaviest traffic jams are on the roads leading into Brussels, where people are left waiting 45 minutes. In Ghent, the outer ring road saw around 1.5 hours of traffic jams due to several accidents. The police are asking people to avoid the area.
A graph of today's traffic jam length in Flanders. The black line indicated the amount of traffic jams at 08:40, compared to the averages at these times over the past years. The red part of the graph refers to exceptional traffic jams. Credit: Vlaams Verkeerscentrum
The agency is closely monitoring the situation and, where necessary, working to clear the snow. Accidents have been reported on several roads, causing further disruption.
Snow is expected to start melting by this afternoon. However, roads and cycle paths are expected to remain icy for some time.
Meanwhile, the RMI has apologised for not predicting the wintry weather sooner.
Pas vanochtend vroeg waren er voldoende elementen om een KMI-waarschuwing voor gladheid te lanceren. We hadden dit gisterenavond onvoldoende zien aankomen om toen al te waarschuwen. Er was lokaal sneeuw voorspeld maar te weinig en op te weinig plaatsen. Sorry voor de hinder !
— David Dehenauw (@DDehenauw) February 11, 2025
"Only early this morning were there enough elements to launch an RMI warning for slipperiness," RMI's David Dehenauw said. "We had not seen this coming sufficiently last night to issue a warning then. Snow was predicted locally but too little and in too few places. Sorry for the inconvenience."
